It's no secret that Sony's PSP has always been plagued by piracy, limiting the platform's appeal to both developers and publishers alike. To prevent history from repeating itself with the PlayStation Vita, Sony says it took some key steps to preserve the platform's long term security.

As part of Gamasutra's latest feature, Sony's SVP of worldwide studios, Scott Rohde explains that anti-piracy measures have been a part of the system's design since the beginning.

"That was front and center in the early specs of this machine," he said. "We needed to have something that would combat piracy from day one, and that's why the cards that you can purchase for the games are in their own proprietary format."

This emphasis on proprietary media stands in stark contrast to the PSP, which featured a standard memory card slot that made it relatively easy for pirates to install counterfeit games.

Rohde explained that while some might dislike Sony's approach to developing unique media formats, the company needed to take this approach to maintain the platform's security.

"It's something that we felt was completely necessary to make sure that people could not pirate these games. I mean, it's a custom security solution on each one of these cartridges. That is something that we are confident will protect us from piracy for the long term."

The full interview, which explores the impending North American Vita launch on February 22, as well as Rohde's opinion regarding Sony's chances versus Nintendo and Apple, is live now on Gamasutra.